Principal Program Manager, Engineering Operations

Vantor; Westminster (CO); On-site; USD 135,000 - 198,000; Full time

Job summary

Vantor is seeking a Principal Program Manager for Engineering Operations to define and evolve the operating model governing how engineering plans, designs, delivers, and demonstrates completion across the organization.

You will own standards, lifecycle, governance, systems-of-record expectations, and traceability to make engineering execution consistent, visible, and scalable while balancing enterprise-wide standards with local flexibility.

Qualifications

• Deep experience in engineering leadership or related discipline.
• Proven ability to design and improve engineering processes at large scale.
• Strong understanding of lifecycle models, governance, risk, and traceability.

Responsibilities

• Define the Engineering Operating Model across planning, design, delivery and evidence.
• Establish standards, reviews, artifacts, and decision points for Engineering.
• Partner with domain architects to align technical and operational standards.
• Create playbooks and guardrails to ease adoption and tooling integration.
• Measure adoption and improve the operating model using data and feedback.

Skills

Engineering leadership

Systems engineering

Technical program leadership

Engineering operations

Communication

Education

Bachelor's degree in Engineering

Job description

Vantor is forging the new frontier of spatial intelligence, helping decision makers and operators navigate what’s happening now and shape what’s coming next. Vantor is a place for problem solvers, changemakers, and go-getters—where people are working together to help our customers see the world differently, and in doing so, be seen differently. Come be part of a mission, not just a job, where you can: Shape your own future, build the next big thing, and change the world.

To be eligible for this position, you must be a U.S. Person, defined as a U.S. citizen, permanent resident, Asylee, or Refugee.

Export Control/ITAR: Certain roles may be subject to U.S. export control laws, requiring U.S. person status as defined by 8 U.S.C. 1324b(a)(3).

Please review the job details below.

The Role

Engineering Operations is building a common operating system for how Engineering plans, designs, delivers, and demonstrates evidence of completion.

As the Principal Program Manager for Engineering Operations, you will define and evolve the operating model for how Engineering works across the organization. This role owns the standards, lifecycle model, governance, systems-of-record expectations, and traceability required to make engineering execution consistent, visible, and scalable.

You will determine where common standards create leverage, where teams need local flexibility, and where process should be simplified or removed entirely.

What You'll Do

Define the Engineering Operating Model

• Own the common engineering lifecycle model across planning, design, delivery, and evidence.
• Define the minimum set of standards, reviews, artifacts, and decision points required across Engineering.
• Establish clear boundaries between enterprise-wide standards and domain-specific tailoring.
• Simplify existing processes before standardizing or automating them.
• Ensure the operating model provides appropriate rigor for mission-critical engineering without creating unnecessary ceremony.

Establish Governance and Engineering Standards

• Define lifecycle reviews, decision authorities, escalation paths, and governance expectations.
• Partner with domain architects and engineering leaders to align technical and operational standards.
• Clarify ownership and accountability for engineering artifacts, decisions, risks, and evidence.
• Create practical playbooks, templates, and guardrails that make the model easy to adopt.

Define Systems of Record and Traceability

• Establish what information must live in authoritative engineering systems of record.
• Define required metadata, artifact relationships, and traceability expectations.
• Improve the consistency and quality of engineering execution data.
• Ensure the operating model produces reliable context for both human decision-making and agentic workflows.
• Partner with Developer Enablement and other platform teams on implementation of tooling and integrations.

Drive Adoption and Continuous Improvement

• Work with Engineering leaders to roll out common standards and operating practices.
• Identify friction, inconsistency, and unnecessary process across teams.
• Measure adoption and effectiveness of the operating model.
• Evolve standards based on execution data, feedback, and lessons learned.
• Challenge any process that adds effort without improving quality, predictability, safety, or decision-making.

What We’re Looking For

• Deep experience in engineering leadership, systems engineering, technical program leadership, engineering operations, or a related discipline.
• Demonstrated ability to design and improve engineering processes across large, complex organizations.
• Strong understanding of engineering lifecycle models, technical governance, reviews, risk management, and traceability.
• Ability to distinguish where standardization creates leverage from where local autonomy is more effective.
• Strong technical credibility across software, systems, infrastructure, or multidisciplinary engineering environments.
• Experience influencing senior engineering leaders without relying on direct authority.
• Strong systems thinking, judgment, and ability to simplify complex operating models.
• Excellent written and verbal communication.

What Success Looks Like

• Engineering teams use a common language and operating model where consistency matters.
• Lifecycle expectations, standards, and decision authorities are clear and widely understood.
• Engineering data is captured once in the right systems of record and is trusted.
• Leaders spend less time reconciling process differences and more time making decisions.
• Teams retain flexibility where local variation creates value.
• Engineering rigor improves while unnecessary ceremony decreases.
• The operating model becomes a foundation for scalable automation and agentic engineering workflows.

Pay Transparency:

To support pay transparency, Vantor includes salary ranges in all U.S. job postings. Starting pay for this role will fall within the listed range and will be based on factors such as experience, qualifications, skills, location, and market conditions. Candidates who meet the minimum requirements for the role should not expect to receive compensation at the top of the range. The listed range reflects the expected pay for this position, and final offers will be determined based on each candidate’s experience, expertise, and alignment with the role.

• The base pay for this position within Colorado is: $135,000.00 - $180,000.00 - $198,000.00 annually.